The right to be annoyingHamtramck, Mich., is a little like Russellville, Ark. But only a little. The comparison starts to break down after noting that both cities have a little over 23,000 residents. Russellville is surrounded by water and forest; Hamtramck is surrounded by Detroit. Each is a city of immigrants, although many of Russellville's immigrants measure their families' time in America in decades or centuries, while 41 percent of the people in Hamtramck were ...

Where's the outrage?Take a look at the pictures. One was on page 6B of Sunday's Courier. Another is reproduced in today's Harville cartoon. Does the image of a hooded prisoner attached to electrical wires make you uncomfortable? Does the pyramid of naked Iraqi prisoners chill you to the very soul? Do the smirks on the faces of those American soldiers make you want to vomit? They should, because they show that America has surrendered in the war on terror. Oh, the ...

NPR makes big blunderA lot of people love to trash National Public Radio. We never expected to join their ranks. Others will say NPR shows a liberal bias, or that they don't like its small amount of public funding, or that it deals with issues they want kept under wraps. We will disagree with the last two complaints and dismiss the first one outright, since NPR makes an admirable effort to get both sides of the story, unlike some other popular radio programming. P...

Birth brings new bondsBy Marvin Enderle menderle@couriernews.com "He's here." With those words, my wife, Jeanie, got off of the phone in the waiting room at St. Mary's hospital on Saturday afternoon. A labor and delivery nurse had just told her that our daughter, Cara, had given birth to our first grandson, Cameron Riley Hambrick. It had been an anxious night and morning of waiting through that night's storms and his mother's labor. Jo Hambrick, who is Cameron's gr...

Remember the fallenWhen Pat Tillman sacrificed his professional football career to serve his country in the Army Rangers, the nation cheered his selflessness. Few people who join the military take the pay cut that he accepted so willingly. Last week, Tillman's level of sacrifice rose even higher, right up to the same level that has been reached by hundreds of Americans during the war on terror. When Pat Tillman gave his life while serving his country on a combat...

Capital idea for financesGood things come to those who wait. Mayor Raye Turner vetoed several items last month, citing the city's growing financial problems. Today, most of those requests have been satisfied, but either at a reduced cost or without the need to use regular city funds. Instead of spending $150,000 to buy seven police cars, the city will spend $132,000 to buy nine cars, thanks to competitive bidding and the use of a police department special fund that do...

U.S. can't avoid draftAmerica's overstretched military may soon face another strain if more soldiers begin to choose civilian life over re-enlisting. A weekend report in USA Today said the Army was 1,000 soldiers short of its re-enlistment goal with two weeks left in the six-month period, but the Army reported Friday that it had surpassed its goal of retaining 28,377 soldiers due for departure or retirement. Some fluctuation is normal; last year, when the war in Ir...

Supply line breaks downNapoleon Bonaparte coined the famous phrase, "An army marches on its stomach." When he forgot his own maxim, his soldiers suffered an infamous defeat at the gates of Moscow, where they found themselves ill-clad and starving at the end of an inadequate supply line. Our own supply line to Iraq is beginning to break down. This virtual pipeline carries bullets and biscuits to places like Baghdad and Basra. It ends in the mess kits and magazines of...

Lake reels in a big crowdAt first glance, it seemed to be a typo, an extra zero tacked on the attendance figures. The Courier's article by James Joslin on the final weigh-in of the Bassmaster Elite 50 Series tournament said 7,200 people were on hand at Lake Dardanelle State Park. A crowd of 7,200 people would fill Tucker Coliseum twice for basketball games. A crowd of 7,200 people would fill Buerkle Field to overflowing. But Joslin was right - 7,200 was indeed the num...

Iraqis find new friendLast October I wrote about my friend, Maj. Sam Sellers, who was in the middle of Iraq (Mosul) overseeing the reconstruction of some of the country's infrastructure. He is now home from his tour of duty. This civil affairs officer now brings a fresh perspective about the people in Iraq and the American mission. After spending over a year on the ground he said he learned that the overwhelming majority of people in Iraq aren't that much different...

Goodbye, PicklefestIt's a somewhat sad way to end things. As a Courier story recently revealed, Dean Specialty Foods is cutting its final ties with Atkins, the town where it operated a pickle-producing facility up until two years ago. Not only has the plant that employed thousands of area residents over the past 50-plus years shut down and emptied, the venerable (around these parts, at least) Atkins pickle brand the plant produced is going away as well - retired...

Label gives state shelterBy James Jefferson \ For visitors' recreational pleasure, Arkansas boasts of a half-dozen national sites, 51 state parks, 600,000 acres of lakes, 9,000 miles of streams and rivers, 200 campgrounds, and 1,500 miles of hiking trails. Add to those opportunities Arkansas' highway rest stops, one of which the Arkansas Claims Commission deemed a recreational area last week in denying a $3 million claim by the family of a New Jersey woman who was mur...

Chatter still troublingA lot of chatter can be heard around the country these days about Iraq and al-Qaida and the 9/11 attacks. Unfortunately, most of the chatter is about as illuminating and instructive as the terrorist chatter our national security agencies picked up the summer of 2001, before the attacks. Condoleezza Rice appeared before the national 9/11 panel last week to defend the Bush administration's actions before and after the attack. She shared some of ...

Listening for music's messageBy Phillip W. Lamb editor@couriernews.com Like many people, I associate G.F. Handel's "Messiah" mostly with Christmas, which means I'm mostly mistaken. The Christmas section certainly contains some memorable music, particularly the solos that introduce the shepherds in the field and lead to the chorus "Glory to God in the highest," but that is only a fraction of the music, and the message. So it's fitting that I recently received a new CD of a...

Close race likely againWhen the party faithful (of either political denomination) get together, you can expect a little partisanship. There's one area of agreement among both Republicans and Democrats - this is going to be a tough fight. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, speaking Saturday in Russellville, warned Democratic stalwarts to not underestimate the challenges. She also said it would be crucial to bring independent voters into the Democratic columns. On the previous Mon...

Lake View defies Act 60In scathing fashion, the school district that started the ball rolling toward its own demise thumbed its nose at a new law to consolidate small school districts. Instead of submitting a consolidation plan to the state Department of Education, as did dozens of the smallest school districts by Thursday's deadline, the Lake View School District dispatched its superintendent to personally deliver the message that it would defy Act 60, passed by th...

Wanted: One last war storyBy Phillip W. Lamb editor@couriernews.com The best thing about filling in as editor while Rick Fahr is on active duty with the Arkansas National Guard in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is that I've had the opportunity, and the honor, of interviewing and writing about River Valley residents who played some role in World War II. This "greatest generation" has been an inspiration to me, as well as to others. The Courier began this series just a few days b...

EIS study resolves harbor issuesThe selection of a nationally known firm to handle the Environmental Impact Study of Russellville's proposed intermodal facility should reassure both sides in the disagreement over the plan. For the Intermodal Authority, the contract with the Parsons Corporation costs less than half of what was originally estimated and should be completed six months earlier that expected. Parsons will do the study for just over $500,000 and expects to be finis...

RFD solution still neededThe long, divisive debate on adding an ambulance service to the Russellville Fire Department was finally put to rest on Thursday by a 5-2 City Council vote. For firefighters and for the Pope County EMS service, this action means it's time to set aside the rancor that has festered for months and start to rebuild the cooperation and respect needed for the two organizations to provide the exemplary emergency care that they provide for the people ...

Duck blind hurts justiceSupreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has taken offense - 21 pages worth - at everyone who has criticized his decision to go hunting with Dick Cheney when a case involving the vice president was on the docket. He went into a long history of justices who have buddied up with the rich and powerful, among them Justice Byron "Whizzer" White, who skied with Bobby Kennedy, and Chief Justice Fred Vinson, who played poker with Harry Truman. Sorry, but ...